Chapter Twenty-Three
Kira
Houston had his eyes fixed on the album, and once again she was whining and wagging her foot.
Gator called Houston and pulled a cloth from his pocket to play tug with her, like Ty did to reward Rory for a job well done. Gator wouldn’t reward Houston if he didn’t believe that the indication was correct.
“Kira, Houston is trained to find hidden electronics like flash drives. He says there’s something hidden in here.”
Kira stared at the album. Lynx’s words were words.
They all line up like tin soldiers. But Kira couldn’t make her mind make sense of their meaning.
So Kira started talking, babbling, sharing about how the album had come to her and the novels inside.
And that was her life’s project to translate, annotate, and interpret the stories.
That was why she brought them. So she could continue with her project no matter where she ended up hiding.
“Let’s go through this together,” Lynx said, patting the bed beside her.
They sat and looked from picture to picture, and Lynx pointed. “Do you know who these people are?”
“No, not at all. One of my Aunt Fatima’s cousins—someone I don’t know—told my aunt that she had a friend who found this in her grandmother’s trunk.
So I don’t have any connection to these people.
The reason I have it is that my doctoral work focused on women’s writings from times and places that made it improbable for women to write at all. ”
“Can you tell me again how this came to you?” Lynx asked. “Your Aunt Fatima sent it to you? Tell me about your connection to her.”
“My Aunt Fatima is in an arranged marriage with my Uncle Nadir, my father’s brother.”
“Your father came to America for university?”
“That’s right, my father and mother fell in love and married, and Dad wished to stay here.
My mother deferred to her husband in all things.
My father didn’t need that, didn’t insist on it, talked to me at length about not becoming like my mother, that it was her background, but he would make sure I had choices. ”
“Choice of …” Lynx asked with a nod of encouragement.
“Following a life in Qatar under the protection of my hardline uncle or being here in America.”
“And you chose Qatar and an arranged marriage?” Gator asked.
“To Omar Imadi? Yes, as my family is very deeply important to me, and I would have lost that connection if I hadn't relented. Of course, I didn’t realize what my uncle was asking me to do. He’s dead—my uncle is alive.
It’s Omar who’s dead. I think it is a great gift in my life. I am so grateful he’s dead.”
“You already had the book when your uncle made the arrangement?” Lynx asked.
Kira stopped and stared at her. A tingle moved through her nervous system.
“I don’t think so. I think those two things overlapped.
My Aunt sent me the books via express mail.
And it arrived at the same time I met Ty—that Lula sent Ty to me.
And at the same time, I learned about the marriage arrangements from my uncle. ”
“You thought Lula was your friend?” Gator asked.
“She is my friend. And she used my friendship,” Kira said.
“You figured out her job, or they told you?” Lynx asked.
“Oh, Lula told me that she is also called Johnna White. And of course, when Gator and Christen met, they were with a woman named Johnna Red. It wasn’t rocket science to put that together.
More things came together. I was connecting dots.
Lula came to see me because Ty had finished his mission and refused to be her asset.
She had some questions for me about the conversations I’d overheard at the Range and at the family compound in Qatar.
We had it out, Lula and I. I did anyway.
I screamed and yelled at her, and she let me wear myself out.
It broke my heart to lose what I thought was a dear friend and what I imagined I had had with Ty. ”
“You do have that,” Lynx said, “without a doubt. Whatever you thought you had with Ty was there the night I saw you together at the Davidsons’ party for Christen and Gator.
That man would have ripped to shreds anyone who came toward you.
With claw and tooth, with his last drop of blood, he was ready to protect you because he had not just fallen in love with you, but he knew you were his one. ”
Kira felt tears swim in her eyes.
“And on top of that, I have known Lula for many years. We have had our differences of opinion, differences in perspective. But I hold her in high esteem. And she knew she had days to get someone on a plane to Tanzania to stop Omar and to save you.”
“That’s right.”
“So she had to pick someone you would fall in love with immediately. And she had to pull out her copious set of tricks to get that job done.”
“Yes.” Kira swiped at her eyes.
“And she knows that you have always been intuitive.”
Kira stopped and blinked.
“Yes?” Lynx asked.
“Yes.” Kira agreed.
“And so the person she chose had to fall in love with you at first sight, or you would know it was an act. Yes?”
“Yes,” Kira whispered.
“And so while your Uncle Nadir chose Omar Imadi to advance his needs, Lula chose Ty Newcombe for you to advance everyone’s needs. Omar was removed from the world of terrorism. Ty told you why that was important to his unit in particular?”
“A brother’s fiancée, Storm, was gravely injured.”
“Exactly. Lula got what she wanted. The Unit got what they wanted. Ty got what he wanted in finding the love of his life. And you got what I’m sure must be a great deal of confusion.
Ty is, after all, what you wanted, too. Just under different circumstances.
If Lula didn’t truly love you, you’d know.
And if she didn’t love you as she does, she could have sent anyone.
She chose for you to be safe and happy.”
Kira cleared her throat. “That’s a perspective that I haven’t considered.”
“But if I were in your shoes, I, too, would struggle with the level of betrayal you must have felt from all sides and from the people you wanted most to trust.”
“With Ty and Lula, yes. My uncle saw me as a commodity, and that was it.”
“Let’s get back to your family,” Lynx said, smoothing her hand carefully over the cover of the photo album. “Your Uncle Nadir married your Aunt Fatima. You said it was an arranged marriage.”
“Uncle Nadir worked for Fatima’s father, and it was convenient. There was a great deal of wealth around her family’s business in helium production.”
“So it’s your aunt’s family’s money and connections.”
“Correct. And my father became financially independent because my uncle distributed the helium wealth among the male heads of household. I’m a trust fund baby.
My financial needs are met if I choose a reasonably comfortable life, and I’m not jet-setting and wearing couture.
I actually prefer to live simply. It’s just a nicer life to be in my little house and wear yoga pants. ”
“Agreed.” Lynx’s fingers searched along the seam of the photo album cover. “Christen said you are Qatari royalty.”
“I’m not royalty.” Kira smiled as she shook her head.
“London likes the idea that I’m a princess, but she says that because she thinks our family compound is like a castle.
Lula told Ty I was a princess. I think she was planting the idea in Ty’s head that he was the shining knight riding to my rescue.
What do Americans know of princesses other than that they’re in Disney movies and ride around Buckingham Palace in golden carriages?
In Qatar, the official ruling family has been in place since the 1800s.
So the number of royals is vast, upwards of twenty thousand.
Which is not an insignificant fraction of the three million-plus people who live in Qatar. ”
“But it’s Fatima who holds the connection to wealth and status?”
“Over my uncle? Yes. Does he like that at all? I would say it has been a perpetual thorn.”
“And Fatima sent you this album.” Lynx’s voice sounded far away, as if she were deep in thought, tumbling ideas to see if they might come together and form a single picture.
“And at that same time, Omar was signing a marriage contract with your uncle.” Lynx focused back on Kira.
“Was Fatima pleased with the choice of Omar for you?”
“She didn’t sound happy in the brief moment that I spoke with her. She seemed pretty upset when she handed the phone over to my uncle so he could tell me the news.”
“What an emotional rollercoaster you were on. Let me ask you this: after you, London, and Archie returned to the Davidson Realm from your hiding place in the wild animal preserve, what did your uncle say to you about the attack?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Nothing? He didn’t check on your well-being?”
“He was making phone calls.”
“Did you hear what he was saying?” Gator asked.
“He was speaking in a language I don’t know,” Kira said as she scooted over the mattress to rest her back on the headboard.
“What happened then?” Gator asked.
“London, Archie, Ty, Rory, and I jumped on the plane because the pilot was like, 'Hey, I’m out of here.’ We grabbed our stuff, ran for the plane, and flew to D.C.
because London and I had to get ready to host Gator and Christen’s pre-wedding party.
We left the men to deal with Omar’s body.
William arrived in the States the morning of the party.
And, as you know, that’s where London was shot.
And that’s when I stopped communicating with Uncle Nadir. ”
“But you’re still in touch with the rest of your family?” Lynx asked.
“I only speak to my female relatives. When they are in the women’s wing of the house, I call, and we are on video talk all together.”
“So for almost two years, nothing from your uncle,” Gator said.
“Correct.”